im(perfect)
by yuunadiane
Summary: His Lady only thought to fight him. Bunnix was standing in his way. This would never end until he got rid of the Time Guardian. All he had in his isolation were his thoughts. He began to plan. [How Chat Blanc wins.]


**crossposted from AO3. Chat Blanc, a yandere wavering from clear-minded focus to frenzied screaming and outbursts, is a lot of fun. **

**This is a look at how he could win and achieve his goals.**

* * *

This isn't the first time he's fought Ladybug.

"Now you're breaking more than my heart, Marinette!"

The shock caused her to lose her concentration, landing ungainly onto a submerged bus and stumbling. Marinette slipped and fell onto all fours, rolling to a stop, and had only managed to scramble into a sitting position when he appeared above her, pure white and pale and devoid of colour as he strode calmly toward her. "W-What did you say?!" She gasped.

"Give me a hug…_Marinette_!"

She dodged his swipe and took off, leaping over water and sliding down the sides of cars. Her heart beat furiously in her ears as she blabbered, "You're wrong! I'm not Marinette! That's impossible – I never told you anything!"

He laughed, a deranged and manic cackle that petered into a growl. "I know who you are, my lady! I know _everything_ – Ladybug, Hawkmoth – my mother-" Marinette forced herself to keep running even as the shock ran through her body. What about his mother? She knew Chat's home life wasn't the best, and _Hawkmoth?!_ If Chat knew she was Ladybug, did he know who _Hawkmoth_ was?

"What do you know about Hawkmoth?" She yelled back, trying to quell the anxiety in her voice.

"I know who he is." The answer came back with a disturbing calm. "With your miraculous we can turn time back to the way it was. Then I'll deal with _him_."

"Things were _purr_fect until Hawkmoth found out about everything." Chat Blanc sneered, his footsteps echoing eerily through the empty, dead world. "Once the cat is out of the bag, it's only a matter of time before everyone knows."

* * *

Marinette had her back pressed against the rusted skeleton of the Eiffel Tower, hidden away from him for the time being. Her eyes darted around, looking for a plan of attack, a solution, _anything_. How had this happened? What could she do – before he found her again and forced her to see what her kitty had become?

"Don't you want to know who he is? What he _did to me?_"

She clenched her fists. If Hawkmoth was to be defeated, her responsibility as Ladybug – to keep Paris safe – would be fulfilled. That is her mission.

"Who-" She began, just as a portal spat Alix out. "Minibug, no!" Alix warned, holding up a finger. "There's a proper sequence of events to the timeline, and you mustn't affect that! It isn't time for you to discover Hawkmoth's identity."

"But-" Marinette gritted her teeth.

"If you find out who he is now, the future as it is will be destroyed." Alix continued lowly. "It might create greater problems we couldn't have foreseen." Her face softened. "Trust me on this, Minibug. All will be revealed in due time."

Alix knows best. Marinette eventually nodded. "Alright. But this gives me a strategy I can use. I won't find out his identity, I promise." The Time Guardian returned her nod, and Alix disappeared as Marinette glanced up, tracking the sound of Chat's footsteps.

"What happened, Chat Noir?" Marinette called out. "What did Hawkmoth do to you?"

"It's Chat BLANC!" He screamed, far too close for comfort, and Marinette hopped off the beam she stood on, throwing her yo-yo to catch onto a buttress of the Tower and put some distance between them. They had to talk, not fight. If she played her cards right, she could get him to hand her his akuma willingly.

"He found out who I was." Chat's reply came as a snarl, the multiplying footsteps signalling that he was on all fours and crawling like a feral beast. "He wants to revive her, and lured us into a trap, just so he could hurt me with my mother and force me into hurting you!"

* * *

The first time, he fought his Lady and won. He had her wrists pinned up over her head and his knee beneath her chin, his folded leg between the valley of her breasts and against her flat navel, pressing her down onto the concrete surface of the roof. Her spotted red suit was gone, replaced with her black jacket, white shirt, and pink jeans.

The way her bluebell eyes darted about in panic and her body squirmed, struggling fruitlessly, sent thrills down his spine. His instincts, primal and catlike, were fully on edge, registering _mate_ and _prey_ and _chase_, and now he had her exactly where he wanted her. She didn't protest. His Princess knew it would be pointless.

"I'll fix everything," he promised. His free hand played with the edges of her earrings, fingers sparking all the while with bright light, his _cataclysm_ itching to be spent.

An umbrella hit him across the face and he lost his grip. He was flying through the air next as Marinette pushed him off, and Chat Blanc looked up to see Bunnix grab her, the earrings, and disappear through a portal, leaving him to howl at nothing.

* * *

He met Bunnix face-to-face when her portal opened again and another identical Ladybug stepped out, metal bowl over her head. Icy eyes darted from his Lady, to the older heroine, and his rage flared.

"What did you _do to her?"_ He shrieked. "My Lady – where is _she?!_ Who is this _clone?!"_

Ladybug quickly pulled the bowl over her head, gasping at the sight of him. "Chat – Chat Noir?! What happened to you?!"

Bunnix narrowed her eyes. "This _is_ Ladybug. I put the previous one back in her own time and went back ten seconds before I first picked her up. She isn't a clone. The timeline rewrites itself."

"You're a cheat." He hissed at her, and Bunnix merely shrugged. "Call me whatever you want. Minibug," She addressed the younger heroine, "He's been akumatized. You have to save him."

His Lady nodded solemnly, unhooking her yo-yo and spinning it. Her dark blue gaze was complete seriousness, a look he recognized. That was her battle mode, and he was only a common akuma to her. Chat growled.

* * *

His Lady was the one with all the plans. He merely did her bidding to bring her vision to life.

Months without her in this dead world, screaming and hurling mega-cataclysms into the sky, into debris – taught him that nothing was coming to help him fix things. The two people he still had – Bunnix bringing his Lady to fight him, ignoring any explanation or plea he made no matter how much he begged and begged, then whisking her away once he made any progress – taught him that he was truly alone.

His Lady only thought to fight him. Bunnix was standing in his way. This would never end until he got rid of the Time Guardian.

All he had in his isolation were his thoughts.

He began to plan.

* * *

The residual shock of his cataclysm, even directed away from the massive Eiffel Tower, was enough to rip the structure off its foundation. He stood on the base of the Tower, now its highest point with the landmark lying on its side.

His Lady had wanted to know what Hawkmoth had done to him, and who was he to deny her anything?

The zip of her yo-yo alerted him, together with a splash as Ladybug hauled herself up from the flood that had submerged Paris. She was immaculate as usual, the water having no effect on her hair with the magic of her Miraculous. "What did you _do _to them?" She demanded, shifting into a battle-ready stance.

"I didn't mean to." He snarled, glaring at her. "Why won't you try and help me fix it?"

"I will!" Ladybug insisted, cutting him off. "I can and I will! I'm Ladybug! The Miraculous Cure will bring everyone back, repair the damage done to all of Paris, and fix everything! All you need to do is let me de-akumatize you!"

"That won't _work_!" He screeched. "Your Miraculous Cure will bring Hawkmoth back to life after I've destroyed him, and he'll come back to kill us! To kill you!" He paused to take several shuddering breaths, blinding white energy building up in his claws. "You could just give me your Miraculous, and I'll make all our troubles go away. I'll make my family whole. I could make your dream come true, Marinette."

"But the simple truth is that you _don't love me anymore._" He hissed, stalking toward her as his cataclysm grew. "So I might as well destroy you, me, our memories - " Chat hurled his claw up, flooding their surroundings, the sky, the galaxies with light- "_-everything_!"

"No!" Ladybug screamed, running forward with her hands outstretched, "Okay, okay, I'll- I'll give you my Miraculous!"

She was lying. How many times had they pretended to concede defeat in battle to fake out their enemy? He would be a poor partner if he didn't know that - and he was her **equal**. Chat Blanc was intent on ensuring that Ladybug kept her promise, even if it didn't happen this time.

Two could play at that game. He graciously stood down, even gently flicking his ivory bell as a mischievous hint, certain that she had understood it when her blue eyes sparkled.

She stepped closer to kiss him, and he would have caught her lips as he leaned forward in response, had she not torn the bell from his collar and broken it to purify the akuma.

He felt the corruption wash off him, Noir again, and returned Ladybug's gentle smile in reassurance. Akuma victims usually forgot everything once they had been purified. Chat looked into her warm gaze and remembered her in her handmade clothes and long hair. Nothing had changed in him.

"Yes!" Bunnix exclaimed, materializing from a hole in her burrow. "Yes, you did it, Minibug!"

"Marinette?" He asked, playing along. "What happened?"

As he'd expected, Marinette put the pieces together with her characteristic sharpness, deciding to save her Lucky Charm for her own timeline. Chat mimicked sorrow, and just as she'd turned around to dash back into the burrow, he stepped forward and enveloped her in an embrace.

"Marinette, just - please-" He murmured, his voice as soft as possible. "Let me hold you for a moment. I've missed you so much."

Her hands gently pushed his arms away from her, so that she could turn around and melt against his chest. He squeezed her tighter, relishing how small she was, how he had to hunch over to hug her properly, stroking his fingertips along her the dip of her back. "I'll see you soon, Princess." Chat promised. Looking up, he caught Bunnix's relieved expression and slowly stretched out a hand to her.

They bumped knuckles, and Chat smiled at her. "Thanks, Bunnix."

He grabbed her fist and sneered, "_Cataclysm_."

Marinette whirled around, panicked, as one hand tore off an earring and threw her off the narrow ledge they stood on.

He darted forward into empty space, other hand digging into the Bunny Heroine's front pocket and unearthing her Miraculous just before the disintegration caught up to it, Bunnix's jaw frozen open as she dissolved.

"NO-!" Marinette screamed as she plummeted to the ocean, and he slipped into the Burrow clutching the blue and white Watch Miraculous before the portal winked out of existence.

* * *

Fluff phased out of his hand when he tried to grab her, hissing at him and nipping his fingers when they got close. Considering she was a tiny rabbit, the display was more adorable than anything else.

"You are destroying time itself!" Fluff spat. "Alix's time is up _because of you_ \- there is no longer a Time Guardian to manage the Burrow, and we are currently out of time, a time that should not exist -" Her tiny body trembled in rage- "and your actions will split time into a shape it was never meant to hold- five timelines, nineteen timelines - thirty-seven - eighty-three - two to the power of eighty-nine million five hundred thousand-"

"The multiverse theory of infinite timelines." Chat snapped, narrowing his eyes at the Rabbit Kwami. "I'm aware."

"Against what should be!" Fluff squealed. "We have decided that is one timeline in our universe and one timeline _only_, and it's under threat because of you, Chat Noir!"

"Then help me fix it." Chat's growl rumbled low in his throat. "Tell me what your ability and activation phrase is."

Fluff crossed her arms defiantly, huffing like a petulant child. Chat was undeterred. "Look around you." He gestured lazily to the multitude of screens around them, several winking into static, a few flashing with apocalyptic imagery. "You don't want a time paradox to tear apart the fabric of reality, do you, Fluff?" He threatened.

"_No._" Fluff bit out. "There is no going back from what you have done-"

"I'm doing _exactly_ what Bunnix has done!" Adrien shouted, patience fraying thin. "_Tell me your ability and activation phrase._" He ordered.

She bobbed in midair for several seconds, silent, before finally muttering through gritted teeth. A kwami could not deny their holder. "...Clockwise to activate. Counter-clockwise to reverse. Burrow."

"Thank you, _madame_." He mocked with bared teeth. "Claws in!"

Plagg tumbled out, rubbing his head in pain and disorientation. "Adrien - kid - what the f-"

The dark god didn't get to finish, vanishing back inside his ring as Adrien yanked it off his finger and called out "Fluff, clockwise!"

Fluff's glare never left him as she was sucked into the Watch, once the transformation took hold of him, Adrien had no particular interest in what he looked like. Bunnix's parasol manifested in his hand in a familiar blue and white, with the familiar weight of a fencing sabre, the tip razor-sharp and ideal for lacerating.

Watch and ring tucked into one of the front pockets of his suit, Adrien finally allowed himself a genuine smile. He was finally in control, finally possessing all he needed to set things right. Well - almost. He rolled one of his Lady's earrings in his fingers. This one he would have to give this one back, but he could always pick up a new pair later. The inert form of a plain black stud in his palm gave him pause as he relished the memories of his Buginette in her spotted red. She was always so clever, so capable. He looked up to her in every way, and now he finally appreciated the finer details of her plans. No one else could have taught him to succeed as well as he now had.

("_I put the previous one back in her own time and went back ten seconds before I first picked her up."_)

("_The timeline rewrites itself."_)

"Thank you, Bunnix, for helping me save my Princess." Adrien said to no one in particular. Above everything, he was a gentleman.

* * *

Chat had killed Bunnix in front of her and stolen one of her earrings right after she had purified him.

Her suit was half-stripped from her body, ebbing away with pink light to reveal her everyday clothes and fragile flesh, and she was hurtling through the air in a drowned, dead world.

_I'm going to die_, Marinette gasped mid-freefall, until white light enveloped her once more.

She fell into a pair of leather-clad arms and nearly screamed at the sight of Chat Blanc grinning at her - _no no no_ _not again_ \- except with his white feline ears replaced with long leporine ones and a blue waistcoat, the same shade as his inhuman eyes, over his white suit. The moment he had her, he was running, leaping through another portal and landing on the same rooftop Bunnix took her from. The sights and sounds of Paris felt like a lifetime ago, rushing back with a ferocity like a punch to the gut. He dropped her earring back into her hands as she scrambled out of his grip and lunged at him, but that same heartless, fanged smirk on his face never wavered as he tipped her a salute, winked, and fell backwards into the burrow.

* * *

Adrien rewound the timeline he'd just deposited his Lady in, Marinette's feistiness surfacing when she'd tried to hit him again. She had been adorable, standing there in anger and bewilderment with her fists raised and nothing to fight.

As time reversed, so did she, snapping back to the self she had been seconds before then, jubilant and preening with pride and joy after delivering the fateful gift that would tie their destinies together. He let time flow and watched her leap and fly gracefully above the rooftops. Adrien smiled fondly. Now to overwrite the timeline.

The Butterfly Effect (ironic, that the Butterfly Miraculous did not deal with time) was easily accomplished by simply opening a portal to his Lady, and time fixed when the sound drew her attention, causing her to stop and investigate for a few moments. There would no longer be a Bunnix to step in and force upon his Lady horrors upon horrors. The other Marinette, furious and distraught, ceased to be, and so did her pain.

Inside his pocket, the Watch Miraculous gave off an ominous chime. He ignored it. It was time to go home, and there his work would be finished.

His Princess wouldn't have to trouble herself with anything. Ignorance, as Adrien knew, was bliss. She would live in pure happiness with their love, and wake up in a new world where everything was perfect.

* * *

"Adrien - how - how's your father?"

In a corner of the hospital ward, the love of her life looked up from where he sat hunched over on the chair, regarding her with such glee that Marinette had been taken aback for a moment. "Marinette-" He breathed, "I'm so glad you're here."

He stood up and threw his arms around her, an embrace that Marinette wholeheartedly returned. "I'm so sorry, Adrien." She mumbled into his chest, and he held on for a good long while, only letting go reluctantly.

"The ceiling collapsed on him in his office, and no one can figure out why." He admitted, and Marinette gasped when she finally got a good look at Monsieur Agreste lying unconscious on the bed, wrapped in bandages, casts, and hooked up to numerous wires. The imposing figure he normally cut with his rigid posture and beige suits was gone, replaced by a broken hospital patient.

"They're trying to find out if there were any structural problems with our mansion, I don't understand- nothing like this should've happened-" Adrien broke off, running his fingers through his hair in a show of frustration. Nathalie stood at M. Agreste's bedside, her normally stoic features devastated. The Gorilla was standing guard outside the ward, blocking any paparazzi or reporters from entering. Marinette was only granted access since that she was Adrien's girlfriend.

"Now the doctors are saying that he'll probably never walk again, because his spine - he'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life." Adrien swallowed audibly, and Marinette's face fell at the misery in his expression. "I don't know what to do." He covered his eyes with the back of his arm, and her heart broke for him at his tears.

"_Dieu_, Adrien." Marinette murmured gently. "This is horrible, I'm - I'll be here for anything you need, alright?" Like her mother did for her when she was distraught, she stroked his back rhythmically, trying to comfort him as much as she could. Her other hand held onto his, and he squeezed her fingers back in return.

"I could really use another hug right now." Adrien mumbled softly, and Marinette immediately moved closer, curling her arms around his middle. He pecked her cheek and tucked stray strands of her hair behind her ear, his thumbs brushing over the tip of her earlobe - where a pair of studs sat.

Would he need them, now that he had his Lady back and his father out of the way?

Along with a silver pocketwatch and ring, a nondescript round brooch was nestled in his pocket.

Time would tell.

If he did, he had all the tools he needed.


End file.
